More Easter pictures

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After Lily seemed perfectly fine on Good Friday it was a shock to hear her coughing like crazy when she woke up on Saturday morning. Neil and I both thought it was Finn coughing at first. Since Lily said her throat hurt so much and she had lost her voice too I took her to the doctor's office to make sure it wasn't strep throat. Well, everyone and their mother had the same idea; the office was crowded! We came home for 1.5 hours in between, but in the end they ran some tests and it is just a bad virus. The rest of our Saturday we spent resting and coloring eggs.

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Before I went to the doctor with Lily I drove to the farm where I buy our meat and picked up the leg of lamb I had ordered. When I saw the huge chunk of meat I asked the farmer's wife to cut out the bone for me because I was afraid it wouldn't fit in my slow cooker. Glad I did! Saturday night I browned the meat, roasted some vegetables and the bone, put the meat and veggies in my slow cooker, drank half a bottle of wine and poured the other half over the meat. Maybe a bit less, if I remember correctly Neil had some wine, too. :)

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So on Easter Sunday morning, we woke up to the smell of roasting lamb and THIS:

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Needless to say, Easter breakfast on the patio was moved indoors, as was the Easter egg hunt. And to think that last Easter we ran around outside in our t-shirts! Must have been because we had such great company from Canada, right? This year, they just sent their weather over. ☺
Oh well, we turned up the heat and put on our nice dresses anyway.

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After breakfast, the kids got their (empty) Easter baskets and the hunt was on.

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Lily was still not feeling very well, so we cancelled our planned visit with baby Sophie and going to church. 

We just stayed home, played, rested and ate. The lamb, by the way, tasted really good. More expensive than supermarket meat, but worth it!

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Lily said she wasn't hungry, but when Daddy made her food look like this, she happily ate it. Except for the pudding, which went to Neil. :)

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In the afternoon we went for a little walk with Marion, Thorsten and Jana, and Lily and Finn rode their scooters. Lily perked right up when Jana was here, and by Sunday night she was almost back to her old self. Thank goodness. When Lily is grumpy, she is REALLY grumpy. Just like when she is happy (which luckily, she is most of the time) she is REALLY REALLY happy. ☺

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Party at Tiffanie's

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Here are some of our pictures from Good Friday. We went to an Easter party at our friend's Tiffanie's house where we had a great time with our English speaking friends from Britain, Australia, Canada and the US.

Lily and Finn made Easter cupcakes to bring to the party.

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As soon as we got there, Neil snatched up Cherry to help ease his baby withdrawal symptoms. And they don't call him the Baby Whisperer for nothing! Cherry, not usually happy to be separated from her mummy or daddy, was content to be with Neil and napped in his arms for about an hour.

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Lily discovered potato chips, something I don't usually buy. She called them "crunchy things" and I'm pretty sure she ate that whole bag.

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Cheers. :)

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Almost all of us outside. Can you tell the weather was not exactly summery?

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The kids getting ready for the egg hunt.

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The race is on!

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Stay tuned for more pictures from our super long (4 days) weekend!

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He reigns!

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On behalf of all of us, Lily wishes all our family and friends a Happy Easter!

Saturday morning Lily woke up with a very sore throat and a bad cough. Luckily, it is just a virus, and she seems to be on the mend.

After a huge meltdown being a little grumpy on Sunday morning, she perked up as the day progressed.

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And at the end of the day she was happily dancing again. It made me think of an Irish blessing on a calendar that our friends Marion and Thorsten gave us for Christmas:

"Ich wünsche Dir, dass Du arbeitest, als würdest Du kein Geld brauchen;

dass Du liebst, als hätte Dich nie jemand verletzt;

dass Du tanzt, als würde keiner hinschauen;

dass Du singst, als würde keiner zuhören;

dass Du lebst, als wäre es das Paradies auf Erden."

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(May you work as if you didn't need money,

love as if you have never been hurt,

dance as if no one were watching,

sing as if no one were listening,

and live as if it was Heaven on earth.)

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She asked me to turn on some music and danced to the song that came up on my playlist: "You reign" by Mercy Me.

It's a bit hard to hear on the video, but this is how the song goes:

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"Even before Your hand made the heavens

Even before the breath of all mankind

Even before we had to be forgiven

You were on Your throne

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You reign

Glory in the highest, You reign

Let creation testify by Your name

Every knee will bow and every tongue proclaim

That Jesus reigns.
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Yesterday, today, and forever
You are God
Who was and is and is to come."

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How fitting for Easter.

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Be blessed!

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P.S. And because I'm immature like that I totally crack up every time I see Neil "sneaking" through the picture. I couldn't help it - I had to point the camera right at him.
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Happy Easter from Finn and Lily, with ♥

Good Friday "quote"

Spring break and Easter preparations

It is "spring break", or "Easter break" as it is called here. The big kids are out of school for 2 weeks, but most Kindergartens are open. To preserve my sanity and actually get a few things done around the house I send Finn and Lily to Kindergarten for a few hours every morning. Lately the two of them have been fighting a lot more than they ususally do, I hope it is just a phase. Maybe it is their way of getting used to our "new normal" (or "old normal" if you will) of just being a family of four. Baby is doing really well and we make a point of seeing her a few times a week, even if it is just for half an hour on our way to or from somewhere.
While the kids are away I am busy boxing up all the baby stuff and sorting through the kids' winter clothes/shoes. With our foster parenting I keep EVERYTHING that is still in decent shape. Good thing we have a lot of storage space in this house.

Easter preparations are in full swing. Last Friday the kids had their Easter celebration in Kindergarten. Finn was still on crutches, but he had fun looking for his Easter basket, too. The teachers hide all 25 baskets (the kids make their own, then the teachers fill them), and the chase is on.

Finn's foot is all better (doc gave the all clear yesterday) and the crutches can join all our other "will-need-again"-stuff up in the attic. Now Lily has a bandage on her hand though. On Saturday we went to another horse show at a riding stable near here, and she fell down and skinned her palm and her knee. Her knee healed fine but her hand got infected. She couldn't wait to show it to Finn's doctor yesterday. The good man took her very seriously (he has a boy her age, and it shows!), and made her feel like a million dollars by putting a big dollop of antibiotic cream and a huge bandage on her tiny wound. You can see it on her hand here.

The table above is part of Lily's Easter decorating. She is hoping for Easter breakfast on the patio and already decorated the table. I didn't have the heart to tell her it won't look so nice in a few days.
Here are a couple more pictures of the yard, and Finn singing an Easter song he learned in Kindergarten.

Friday Night Quote